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The initial setting of the play's scenes is Athens under the reign of Theses and Hippolyta, who are themselves characters from ancient Greek mythology. But it must be understood that the "Athens" of A Midsummer Night's Dream is neither that of ancient Greece nor of its Renaissance counterpart, but an amalgamation of the former with the folk culture of Elizabethan England. After Act I, the play shifts to the "fairyland woods" and remains there through Acts II, III, and IV, returning to "Athens" in Act V for the concluding weddings and the performance of "Pyramus and Thisbe" by the uncouth, unskilled, but irrepressible company of Bottom and his fellow mechanicals.
Act I
Scene i: The play opens in the Athenian court of Theseus as he looks forward to wedding his bride, the former Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta, some four days hence at the summer Solstice. The "blocking" character of the play arrives in the form of the aged Egeus, the father of Hermia. He wants his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius and he is vexed by her love for another Athenian youth, Lysander. Hermia refuses her father's demand, while both Lysander and Demetrius press their suits to Theseus. The wise Athenian ruler upholds the law as it stands: he first rules that Hermia must either follow her father's preference for Demetrius or remain unwed forever. But Theseus also gives Hermia and Lysander some time to accommodate themselves to his decision and then calls Egeus into a private, off-stage consultation. All the players leave save Lysander and Hermia, with the former uttering the famous sentiment that, "The course of true love never did run smooth" (I,i., l.134). Another Athenian maid, Helena arrives. She is both a (former) friend of Hermia and a rival for the affections of Demetrius, whom Hermia spurns but Helena loves. Hermia tries to assuage her friend's jealousy by revealing to Helena that she and Lysander plan to run away into the woods near Athens, leaving Demetrius free for Helena to pursue. Left alone on stage, Hermia tells us that she will attempt to gain Demetrius' favor by telling him about Hermia's plans and then following him into the woods. Thus, Lysander and Hermia are in love; Demetrius loves Hermia and rejects Helena; Helena nonetheless loves Demetrius and is jealous of her childhood friend, Hermia. This somewhat confusing arrangement is the premise for the play's comic proceedings in which the love of all four characters will be "redirected" by the magic of Puck at the behest of the Fairy King Oberon. (Jump to the text of Act I, scene i)
Scene ii: With the premises of the main plot out of the way, the play shifts to another, humbler section of Athens, the house of the carpenter Peter Quince. Along with several other tradesmen (Snug the joiner, Flute the bellow mender and, most comical of all, Bottom the weaver), these unschooled amateurs intend to stage a performance of the tragic love story Pyramus and Thisbe at the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, with Bottom assigned the role of Pyramus. In an extremely funny scene in which the cast's inadequacies as playwrights/actors are acutely evident (Bottom wants to play Pyramus, Thisbe, and a lion to boot), the group agrees to rehearse their "surprise" play in the woods to which Lysander and Hermia have fled. (Jump to the text of Act I, scene ii)
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